Interrogation

COR

Operas

1984

Content warning: political indoctrination, interrogation

Winston Smith is interrogated by a member of The Party about some of his journal entries. In this scene, Smith struggles to differentiate his reality from the reality of The Party.

Composer: Chris Thornborrow

Librettist: Nicolas Billon

My Mother’s Ring

Content warning: murder, violence, mental illness

The story begins with a distressed Paul being interviewed about his missing parents. It switches to two weeks earlier with Harold and Julia in the airport after sending him off. Julia worries that something is wrong with their son. Harold is sure that he'll be back to his old self after the tr...

Composer: Stephen Andrew Taylor

Librettist: Marcia Johnson

The Translator

Content warning: death, incarceration, interrogation, suicide, torture

A translator at a secret prison for suspected terrorists witnesses extreme torture and death of detainees. She leaks the information to news broadcasters, but the government covers it up as a hoax. Her supervisor begs her to say nothing more about the things she has seen -...

Composer: David Ogborn

Librettist: Leanna Brodie

COR

Excerpts

1984 – 1984

Winston Smith is interrogated by a member of The Party about some of his journal entries. In this scene, Smith struggles to differentiate his reality from the reality of The Party.

The Translator – “America died in that cell” (aria)

Traumatized by her experiences, Alessandra reflects on her work as a translator in an American military prison.

The Translator – “You can understand all you want” (aria)

Colonel Crane, Alessandra's supervisor, tersely tells her to lose what her perceives as her naive sense of morality: "We are just here to win."

The Translator – The Translator

2003: After leaking torture photos to the internet, American army translator Alessandra Jenson refuses to be hushed up, and live streams her suicide in protest.

My Mother’s Ring – My Mother’s Ring

Paul is being interviewed about his missing parents. Is Paul a suspect? Is the interrogator a police officer or a psychiatrist? Who were the people who were in his parents' house when Paul returned from his trip? All is not as it seems.